Hypoglycemia: A Jurassic World Story
by LetItRain25
Summary: Takes place during the events of Jurassic World. Zach has hypoglycemia but in the chaos he loses his medication and he isn't able to eat. Between that and running for his life, when the indominus rex is killed, Zach finally crashes. Sick!Zach, Caring!Everyone else (especially Gray).
1. Chapter 1

Hypoglycemia: A Jurassic World Story

by LetItRain25

Zach was hot. Not in that pleasant 'I'm too sexy for my shirt' kind of hot; more the 'my face may actually melt off of my body' kind of hot.

"Gray! Didn't you want to go check out the aviary?" Surely something inside would have air conditioning. He could feel sweat dripping off of him and even though they had only been going for a few hours, he was beyond tired. Zach chalked it all up to teenage hormones, jet lag, and just the thought of having to spend the rest of the week with his little brother. Zach had been planning on ducking out of the hotel room later once Gray passed out for the day, but at this rate that was sounding less and less appealing.

"Yeah, but the show doesn't start until later. Let's go to the gyrosphere!"

Of course his brother would pick a small glass ball with no possibility of escape. Wonderful.

"Well, let's go then," he said. Surely the balls would have air conditioning, right?

"Cool!" Gray yelled, already tearing off in that direction.

Zach shook his head in self-pity and followed the hyperactive boy.

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"Zach? Are you ok?"

"Hm?" Zach turned to face Gray who was looking at him with concern.

"Of course: We both are," Zach responded, assuming Gray was referring to the super t-rex that was currently chasing them as they tried to bring the old Jeep back to life so they could finally get out of this park.

"No, I mean you look like….Have you eaten anything lately?" Gray asked, frustration coloring his words as he tried to express his concern.

"I haven't exactly had time what with the dinosaur escape and everything," Zach responded incredulously. "Now focus, and had me that wrench."

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Zach threw the dinosaur Taser down (hopefully) before Gray noticed how much his hands were shaking. The vibrations from the armored vehicle made Zach feel as if the world was a tilt-a-whirl. Zach closed his eyes against the impending nausea, only to force them open upon realizing how comfortable it would be to sleep right here. Gray need him, and Claire needed him, and sleeping was just not acceptable.

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When the dinosaurs were finally gone, Zach held his brother close to him, both as a reminder that Gray was safe, and as support. He was sure that Gray could feel him trembling, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. Really as long as they were safe, who cares if he's tired? He's earned it.

Zach was pulled out of his musings as Owen turned to Claire, pulling her in a hug, presumably telling her that everything was going to be ok. Zach could tell that she was still processing everything that had happened, but he figured there would be plenty of time for that later.

"Zach?"

"Hm?" Zach turned as his brother tugged insistently on his shirt.

"Are you ok?"

"Yea m'fine."

"It's just, you haven't eaten all day, and with your meds and everything…." Gray trailed off, noting the way Zach seemed to be having trouble keeping up.

"Just, maybe, uh, sit right here, ok?" Gray asked, tugging on his brother's shirt until Zach was on the sitting on the ground.

Zach wanted to resist, but the thought of not having to stand was just too appealing. He all but fell to the ground, placing an elbow on each knee, supporting his head with his hands. He covered his eyes as much as possible, even the minimal light from the docks proving to be too much.

"I'll be right back ok?" Gray asked, receiving a slight nod in response.

Gray ran to Owen and Claire, not wanting to disrupt, but concern overriding any worries regarding social protocol.

Owen had been holding Claire, giving her a moment to process before they had to head back to the more populated parts of the island. He was startled when he felt hands rifling through his side pocket-not even his back pocket!-before he realized that Claire's hands were ensconced firmly around his neck.

He broke away quickly, looking down to see Gray pulling things out of his pockets and throwing them down with a frown.

"Hey whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on?" Owen said, pulling away slightly to prevent the little hands from rummaging further.

"You don't have anything!" Gray called in frustration.

"What are you looking for?" Claire asked, crouching down to face him.

"He hasn't eaten all day!" Gray shouted, arms flailing as if this explained everything.

Claire glanced to Owen, sharing a confused look with the man before turning back to the boy. Owen looked towards where Zach had been, hoping for some form of translation, but instantly frowned when he noticed the boy practically collapsed on the sidewalk.

Owen immediately stepped around Claire and Gray, heading towards Zach as Claire pulled the distraught Gray closer to her.

"Zach? You alright man?" he asked, crouching in front of the kid.

Gray couldn't handle being contained anymore while his brother was in distress. He wiggled his way free, running to be near his brother.

"He's hypoglycemic but we didn't get to eat anything and I forgot to pack granola bars 'cuz I was too excited, and we lost his meds when we were running and he needs—" Gray tried to explain, crescendoing as the story progressed before being interrupted.

"Ok, hold on, ok? Claire! Take Gray and see if you can find anything to eat around here," Owen called waiving Claire and Gray off into the general direction of the pavilion.

"Zach?" Owen asked, gently cupping his hand around the boy's neck, encouraging him to look up.

Zach leaned into the cool touch, opening bleary eyes as his head was guided upwards.

"Hm?" Zach asked, unable to articulate anything further. Everything hurt, but the cool hand felt so nice against his over-heated skin.

"Zach, we're going to get you some food, but we need to stand up ok?" Owen asked. The boy could barely hold his eyes open but there was nothing Owen could do to help from their spot on the sidewalk. It's like hypothermia, Owen told himself, you want to stay still and not move, but if you do that there's no way to improve the situation.

"Don' feel s'good," was all Zach could manage, nausea overwhelming him as he thunked his head back down to rest on his arms.

"I know, and your brother and aunt are trying to find you some food, but we need to start walking towards the infirmary."

Owen positioned himself behind Zach, hooking his arms underneath the boy's and hauled him up, allowing the boy to lean against him while he regained his balance.

"Whoa," Zach mumbled as vertigo slammed into him like a freight train.

"I gotcha," Owen said gently, hooking one arm around Zach's waist while pulling one of the boy's arms over his shoulder to support him.

"Th'nks," Zach said, allowing Owen to take more of his weight. Zach realized that later he would be mortified by this whole thing, but at the moment his concentration was limited to putting one foot in front of the other.

They managed to walk about a quarter of a mile before Gray and Claire caught up with them.

"I got a soda and some M&M's!" Gray explained, holding the bag up for them to see.

Zach opened his eyes, blearily wondering when he had closed them in the first place, and looked at the food his brother was holding. Zach couldn't decide if he wanted to eat all of it immediately or if he just wanted to puke.

Owen gently helped Zach sit, opening the soda while Claire ripped the M&M's open.

Zach started slow with the soda at first, nausea telling him that chugging it in one go would not be in his best interest. He did start to feel better with each swallow, though. He by no means felt great, but he figured he could at least walk to the infirmary on his own at this point. He shook the M&M bag, emptying some directly into his mouth.

Zach looked up to see Gray watching him, tears welling up in the younger boy's eyes.

"Hey, hey, man I'm ok. You did great, I'm ok," Zach assured, pulling his little brother into a tight hug. "Thank you Gray, you did so good." Gray clung to his brother, unable to express everything he was feeling between their parents' divorce, the indominous rex, and Zach being sick; Zach was his constant, so Zach wasn't allowed to be sick. Gray hugged tighter listening to Zach's assurances, and Zach hugged right back, thankful that the two of them had made it through that nightmare.

Owen smiled at the scene and looked to Claire but found her hanging back slightly, concern and guilt etched across her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Owen asked, standing to go to her.

Claire looked at him, guilt shining through clearly now. She shook her head and pulled away slightly saying, "I didn't know."

"Neither of us knew, it's ok. He's going to be fine-" Owen started, holding onto her hand to ground her.

Claire was just shaking her head, shame evident, "No, I didn't even know that he could be….I didn't know that this was an issue."

"Their mom told me, but I didn't," she broke off shaking her head. "She said it shouldn't be an issue 'cause the kids knew how to handle it, but I didn't bother asking anything else about it."

"Well, now you know, hey," Owen said, gently using his thumb on her chin to make sure she faced him, "Claire, this probably wouldn't have happened if there hadn't been a crazy dinosaur on the loose. We dealt with that because if the dinosaur ate everyone then this wouldn't have been an issue. It's a shitty situation that's for damn sure, but there was nothing else that we could've done. The boys are ok, and we are ok, and look at them," Owen finished, gesturing to the brothers who by now were smiling and joking with one another.

"They don't blame you for any of this. Zach doesn't blame you. Gray doesn't blame you. We are all ok and at this point that's all that matters. So, let's take the win, take Zach to the infirmary for a check, and then we can deal with the rest of this later," Owen said, hand waiving to indicate the island and the dinosaurs on it.

Claire looked at Owen before burying her face in his shoulder and taking a deep breath. "Ok, you're right. We triaged the situation, and now we are going to the infirmary. Ok, we got this," Claire said, pulling away and looking over to her nephews.

"Of course we got this. We just took on dinosaurs. We win BAMF of the year awards," Owen said, smiling.

Claire looked to Owen, unimpressed, "You're ridiculous."

"You're just jealous you have to share the award," Owen beamed.

Claire was shaking her head fondly at this point, "Ok boys, let's go."

They headed off to the infirmary, Gray on Zach's right and Owen on his left in case he stumbled. Claire slipped her hand into Owen's, relief beginning to settle into her bones as they walked. They were ok.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone! So first of all, I just wanted to give a huge thank you to everyone for all of the reviews. Seriously, I appreciate all the feedback, and I'm so excited about all the responses!

I had a request to do the hypoglycemia where Gray was crashing instead of Zach, so here it is. Let me know what you think—reviews are always appreciated, and I hope you enjoy!

P.S. Underlined text is dialogue from the movie. I don't own anything.

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"Gray!" Zach shouts, as his brother sets off at a dead-run towards the other side of the boat. Zach sighs, standing up reluctantly to chase his little brother.

"Come look!" He hears as he gets closer. He can't actually get closer because by now everyone is at the bow of the boat, trying to get a look at the iconic gate entrance.

"Gray!" he shouts trying to get his little brother's attention. A second later he looks down to see Gray standing in front of him, tugging on his shirt.

"What do you want to do first?!" Gray exclaims. He's practically bouncing where he stands, unable to contain his excitement.

"Dude, you've got to eat this," Zach says, holding out the open power bar.

"I'm not hungry!" Gray yells in exasperation. He's really not hungry, excitement overpowering any other possible sensation.

"I want to do the tour! You can see in the labs!" he says, pointing to the brochure in his hand.

The boat rocks gently as they approach the dock, and Zach just hears a "let's go!" before his little brother tears off.

"Gray!" Zach yells futilely, already trying to figure out what to do with the opened power bar. It has a chocolate coating that will not do well in the heat of this island. "Mom's gonna kill me," he mumbles, throwing the bar away, smiling softly at the girls watching him.

Before he can say anything he feels a small hand slide into his, dragging him towards an exhibit.

"Gray, we have to go meet Aunt Claire," Zach says, pulling him in the opposite direction.

"But…." Gray trails off. He just got here! But he does actually want to see Aunt Claire. He compromises by not complaining, but by kicking his feet into the pavement as they walk.

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"Where can we get some food?" Zach asks Zara while they follow Gray around.

"I don't know, a kiosk," Zara responds, never taking her attention away from her phone.

Zach looks at her, waiting for her to notice before he rolls his eyes, and starts looking for a food stand that doesn't have a long line.

Zach stops as Gray runs up to him. "I want to see the mososaurus," Gray demands. He starts picking at his shirt, annoyed that his sweat has caused it to stick to him. He doesn't like the feel of the shirt alternating between sticking to and rubbing up his back and it's starting to irritate him.

Zach watches as Gray starts twisting and turning, and rolls his eyes when Gray grabs his shirt between his thumb and pointer, peeling it away from him. Zach pulls Gray's hands away from the shirt and turns him towards the sign for the mososaurus show.

The cool air blows off of the water, and Gray immediately starts to feel better, running up to his seat only to bounce on the balls of his feet when they get there.

"Hey, can we get some cash for food?" Zach asks Zara when they sit.

"I'll have to call your aunt," she responds, making no move to actually do so.

"Can you do that sometime soon?" Zach asks, irritated.

Zara just glares at him and rolls her eyes.

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"That was awesome!" Gray yells as they exit the stage area.

"Did you see that thing's mouth?!" Zach responds, impressed in spite of himself.

Gray practically beams when Zach does so. Ever since Zach started high school he hasn't wanted to spend time with Gray—he only wants to see his girlfriend, which Gray doesn't understand because Zach doesn't even like his girlfriend!

Gray gets distracted, though, as they near the petting-zoo area.

"Whoa," Zach says, as Gray grabs his hand, pulling him in the opposite direction.

"Aren't you a little old for this?" Zach mumbles, as Gray runs up to the fence.

Gray looks around, seeing the other kids grabbing handfuls of food from the bins for the dinosaurs. He runs up, grabbing a handful of his own and smiling at the kid across from him.

"Can we get food after this?" Gray asks as he runs by Zach.

"Yeah," Zach sighs, returning to his quest for a food kiosk. There's one across from them, but it only has popcorn, and Gray won't eat the popcorn because he doesn't like the feel of the kernels in his mouth. Sometimes they can get Gray to eat the homemade kind, but otherwise it's pretty much out.

Zach looks around, annoyed with all the little kids that keep running into him. After one kid jumps particularly hard on his foot, he looks to Zara in annoyance. He realizes she's distracted, and Gray is starting to look frustrated at not being able to get one-on-one attention with the animal, so he figures this is his chance.

"Hey, let's go," Zach whispers to Gray.

Gray is hot, and tired, and annoyed that all the other kids keep running in his way. He gets to pet the dinosaurs, but then there's immediately someone else pushing him out of the way! "But-" he offers in protest, looking to Zara. He feels his backpack jiggle as someone runs into him, and sees the conspiratorial look Zach is giving him. He nods, feeling nauseous as they head out of the zoo.

"Can we do the gyrosphere?" he asks as soon as they are back on the main pathway. He's hungry and tired, so the idea of sitting sounds appealing.

"Sure," Zach responds, equally relieved at the option of air conditioning and a seat.

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"You see? I told you, you're welcome. Up close and personal with four….dinosauruses," Zach says, hoping to pull his brother out of a sour mood. Even Zach thinks this is cool, so Gray should be plastered to the glass in awe by now.

"Ankylosaurus," Gray corrects. "We shouldn't be here, and there's five dinosaurs," Gray mumbles, annoyed that Zach has taken over. It's just because of those stupid girls in the line-he's trying to show how tough he is.

"Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something? Look: One, two, three, four," Zach points as he counts, unwilling to admit that he is kind of worried about his brother. Gray had been disappointed after Aunt Claire ditched them, and then annoyed with all of the people at the petting zoo—Zach was hoping that being able to be up close and personal, inside of an actual personal-space bubble would help.

Gray looks around, seeing the four dinosaurs that Zach saw, before realizing that he did actually see a fifth. He looks up, feeling his eyes grow wide in fear. "Five," he whispers, pointing up so Zach can see too.

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Gray climbs out of the water, cold and shaking. He startles when he feels Zach's hands on his face, turning Gray's face every which way to make sure he's ok.

"'m ok," Gray mumbles into Zach's sweatshirt as he is enveloped by his older brother.

"We gotta go," Zach says, pulling them both up and stumbling into the forest.

Gray latches onto Zach's hand, focusing on the point of contact instead of looking into the woods. The ground reverberates with every step the indominous takes, but Gray can hardly feel it over his heart's frantic thumping against his rib cage.

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"You ok?" Zach asks as Gray starts to walk in front of him on the trail. Truthfully, Zach prefers having Gray walk in front because it's easier to keep an eye on him, but in doing so Gray stopped holding his hand and that was making Zach more anxious than he cared to admit.

"Do you have any water?" is Gray's response, wiping his sweaty palms on his clothes.

Zach smiles slightly, "This tropical heat has already managed to evaporate all the water out of my clothes from our swim earlier. I don't know how the dinosaurs stand it."

Gray happens to know exactly how they stand it, but he's tired and he's scared and-

Gray's pace picks up as he sees a helmet on the ground in front of them. He picks it up, noting the teeth marks on it, unable to look away.

Zach quickly catches up to Gray, looking around to see if there's anything else on the trail with them, and immediately pulling Gray behind him just in case.

"Stay here," Zach mutters, approaching the downed vehicle.

Gray latches onto to Zach, refusing the order.

"Uhm, Zach, the helmet was wrong," Gray mutters quietly, as they approach the vehicle.

"How so?" Zach asks absentmindedly, more focused on their surroundings.

The conversation dies off as they see the door in front of them.

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Gray's quick inhale draws his brother's attention, and Zach takes a moment to really look at his brother. Gray is obviously terrified, but Zach had figured Gray would be having a whole new level of freak-out by now. Every now and then Gray surprises his brother, though.

"Here, take this, you're stronger than me," Zach says meaningfully, handing off a piece of equipment. Gray takes it, nodding shakily.

"Zach?" Gray questions, as Zach starts to gather tools. Zach turns to Gray, pulling him into a tight hug before loading Gray into the Jeep.

Gray lets the box drop to the floor with a thud, before curling himself into a ball in the middle of the vehicle. Gray lays his head down, feeling his eyes shut of their own accord as he listens to Zach circle the Jeep and start working.

Zach shakes his head, smiling at Gray sleeping in the vehicle. If it wasn't for the sounds of gunfire in the background this would almost be peaceful. It would at the very least be the most time he had spent with his brother in a while.

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Gray tries to simultaneously squeeze behind Zach and hold onto him at the same time. Zach is turning trying to get a grip on Gray, and ends up placing himself squarely between Gray and the threat….Of course at this point, with dinosaurs flying above them and monster on the ground, it's surprising that the threat is Aunt Claire.

"Who's that?" Zach asks, calling attention away from them.

Gray breathes out a sigh, looking down at his shoes as _finally_ no one is touching him. He follows closely behind his brother as they head off, shaking the sweat out of his hair.

"Well, at least now someone can fight the t-rex thing," Zach tries to assure.

"No, the helmet was wrong," Gray repeats, jogging to catch up.

"I don't know what that means, man," Zach says.

Gray shakes his head in frustration. "It was too big!" he exclaims.

"What, the helmet or the dinosaur?" Zach clarifies as he tries to herd Gray along with them.

Claire and Owen are slightly in front, but Zach could feel Gray panicking at all of Aunt Claire's hovering. Strangers touching him is unacceptable in the best of times, and this was definitely not turning into a good day.

"Both," Gray responds, holding up his hands to signify the size of the tooth mark in the helmet.

"You ok?" Zach asks, noticing that Gray has slowed down.

Gray only has time to shake his head as Zach pulls his little brother behind him.

"Go, go go!" both brothers shout as Owen drives the car away from the stampede.

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Gray is tired of screaming. He's tired in general, but watching Zach try to tase a dinosaur off the back of the truck has Gray nauseous and tired.

"It's ok, we're ok," Zach mutters, trying to reassure.

Gray rolls his eyes, more aware than all of them that they are not ok yet. The rocking of the truck on the bumpy road alternating with the swinging view of the world as the door to the truck flies open and closed is not helping. He's shivering all over and he doesn't even know why! There's too many variables.

Zach slumps back down next to him, and Gray lays his head on his brother's shoulder, eyes squinted closed. He can't focus and he doesn't even know if he wants to focus. He balls his fists in Zach's shirt, listening to Zach tell him that nothing is going to happen.

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"We need more teeth!" Gray exclaims, for what he feels is the hundredth time. He tried to tell them, that the helmet was wrong! The teeth weren't the right size, and there was more than one row indented.

Finally, Aunt Claire seems to understand, but that means she leaves them, which was not at all what he wanted to have happen.

He doesn't get more than a minute to think about it, though, before both Zach and Owen shove him down, covering him.

He feels like he's just being carried along, hands always on him as they fly through building after building looking for shelter. Colors and shapes are starting to blur together by the time the fight is over, and he sways where he stands, unable to tell if he's standing or sitting or running or screaming or breathing. Suddenly, having everyone touching him seems more assuring than anything.

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"Hey, you ok?" Zach asks, noticing his brother stumble

Gray doesn't even register what he's nodding to, only aware that the movement makes his head pound even harder.

"Hey, hold up for a minute," Zach says, gently using a hand on Gray's shoulder to stop them. He kneels down to face Gray, worried at how pale he is.

"Gray?" he asks again, concern ratcheting as Gray seems to struggle to focus on Zach.

"What?" Gray demands, irritated at having to stop.

"What's 156 times 212?" Zach asks in response.

Gray squints in the morning light, looking to Zach. Gray's eyes begin to widen in panic as he realizes he doesn't know the answer and he's too tired to think about it.

"Hey, hey, it's ok," Zach starts, noticing the way Gray's breathing has picked up.

"Did you take your meds this morning when mom asked?" Zach asks, gently pulling Gray into a seated position.

"She asks at breakfast but dad did breakfast because she was on the phone," Gray offers in explanation.

"Did you pack any extras?" Zach asks, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Pharmacy," Gray responds simply.

"We were supposed to pick them up here?" Zach clarifies.

Gray nods, leaning against his brother, relishing in the cool touch.

"Ok, hold on," Zach says, rearranging them on the ground.

"Claire!" he calls.

Owen and Claire had been walking ahead but come running back immediately when they see Zach holding Gray on the ground.

"Oh my God!" Claire yells, skidding to a halt and dropping to the ground.

"Is he hurt?" Owen grunts, coming up on Gray's other side.

"He has hypoglycemia, and with everything going on we never got to eat, so his blood sugar is crashing," Zach explains shortly.

Claire stares at Zach, latching onto every word, only to realize that she doesn't know what to do.

Zach sees the question in her eyes, and he moves so that Claire can take his place.

"Can you wait with him while I go find food?" Zach says as he moves.

"Wouldn't it be better if you waited? I know where to go to get food-" she starts

"He's super picky, and he can't handle textures. Do you know where a food stand is?" Zach asks, looking to Owen.

"Yeah, follow me," Owen responds, standing.

Claire and Gray aren't there for very long before she realizes they have no cover from the sun. Normally that wouldn't be an issue, but since Gray's already dripping sweat, she decides to move them.

She gently pulls him to a more upright position so she can scoop him up and then carries him over to one of the stores. There is a counter top that hasn't been broken and she sets him on top of it, surprised when he holds onto her, arms lightly draped around her neck, feet dangling off the counter.

She rubs soothing circles on his back, annoyed with herself for not even knowing this was an issue.

A few minutes later Zach and Owen run back to them, Zach quickly changing direction when he spots them.

Zach starts shaking Gray awake, slowly giving him M&M's alternated with sips of Coke. Zach makes sure to hold the candy himself, aware that Gray doesn't like how sticky the candy can get.

"You ok?" Zach asks, bending slightly to be at Gray's eye level.

"Is it over?" Gray asks, small voice betraying his level of fear.

"It's over, you saved us," Zach says, smiling at his little brother, gently ruffling his hair.

Gray stares at Zach, absorbing the words and accepting them with absolute trust.

"Come on, let's go to the infirmary," Zach says, groaning slightly as he lifts Gray off the counter.

"What?" Zach asks as Gray smiles.

"Now mom and dad will have to let us get a dog!" Gray yells.

Zach laughs, awed by the strength of his kid brother.

"Of course they will! We just saved everyone from dinosaurs! We're definitely getting a dog," Zach agrees.

"Not just _a_ dog-we're getting a boxer!" Gray says, already excited by the prospect.

"Oh no way! We're definitely getting a husky," Zach responds, laughing.

Owen and Claire trail behind, both smiling at the kids as they hear laughter.

"Hey," Owen says, gently bumping into Claire to get her attention. "It's not your fault, you know," he says, noting the tension behind her smile.

"I should've known," Claire responds.

"Well, now you do. It's kind of nice though," Owen says, smiling mischievously.

"What's nice?" Claire asks skeptically.

"Finding out that the all-mighty Claire is not actually completely perfect," Owen says, smiling.

"Hey!" she says indignantly. "At least I'm not a navy seal who had to be saved by a business-woman and her nephews!" she responds, laughing as Owen is already defending himself, grabbing his hand as they all walk into the infirmary, safe and together.


End file.
